Notorious

Hard Candy Élixir's evil twin Notorious undoubtedly shares similarities with HCE, but there are three specific differences that keep them from being redundant. First, Notorious is a bit darker than HCE. This is a subjective thing as both are still overall pretty bright scents, but Notorious is darker than HCE. Second, Notorious is a bit more mature. Mostly subjective again, but to me it's a touch less sweet than HCE and, along with this "darker" tone, it's a slightly more mature scent in my opinion. Lastly (and this is an objective difference), Notorious has an orange note in the opening that makes this sort of an orange creamsicle scent. You'll see this comparison being drawn quite often and I think it's accurate. As they dry down they become more similar to one another, however, but not to the point they're indistinguishable, Notorious maintains a hint of the orange creamsicle from the opening throughout it's lifespan. Where both fragrances differ is in performance. I needed double the amount of sprays to replicate the strength of Hard Candy Élixir, which isn't great. Sillage is still pretty dense and projection is moderate, but longevity is where this is worse than HCE. HCE lasted a good 8 hours (which isn't bad by any means, but I expected much more based on opinions), but I'm barely reaching 6 hours since I sprayed this on and it's already really faint on my skin. As a small side note, I wore Tabac Extreme yesterday (which isn't on the website) and it blows this and HCE out of the water. It's a gorgeous, perfectly blended and sweet tobacco and cherry scent. The tobacco note is really similar to the one in Tom Ford's Tobacco Vanille, and the cherry isn't syrupy or synthetic in the slightest. It's my favorite fragrance of his I've tried so far and the best of my recent haul. I'll be wearing and reviewing Addicted, Raw Cherry, Ozone and Supersonic in the following days.

This is one of his best creations imo. A perfect scent for the modern man. I agree that it's probably a safe blind buy. It's very easy to like but still a bit unique and very very addictive smelling. It's not gourmand, but the mandarin, tonka and rum combo adds a little juicy cocktail vibe while the woody and leather notes make it darker and sexy and ultra charismatic. This is just a masterpiece of a blend. I couldn't smell the individual notes before looking at them here, I just smelled a single addictive, sweet (but not gourmand) and sexy scent. Long lasting and well projecting as well. A date night scent that will for sure make your girl's eyes roll in the back of her head when she smells it on your neck. 10/10

With my humble opinion, since I own bottles of both, this and Hard Candy Elixir (Censored Elixir) doesnt smell anything alike. When I think of a vanilla citrus combo, I think of Nishane Ani or Electimuss Imperium. But this doesnt smell anything like those. This is a vanilla citrus thats a little spicy around the edges. Sometimes, throughout the day wearing this (because it most definitely lasts all day), I get these faint whiffs of notes that resemble Carolina Herrera Cobalt Blue Electrique. Not saying it smells like that, I just get a very familiar sillage with this. I really like this fragrance. It was to me, a safe blind buy.

My favourite Aaron Terence Hughes fragrance. It’s super narcotic and sexy — the scent fills every room with a fresh, sweet profile that has a slightly dark edge. It opens with citrus, mainly lemon for me, paired with lots of sexy vanilla. As it dries down, you start to get flashes of boozy elements. The leather is there, but not in the way you’d expect — it’s blended so well that it just adds a different kind of edge rather than dominating. There’s loads of musk to keep it going for ages. If you enjoy really sweet fragrances and want something that stands out from the generic crowd, then I’d 100% recommend Notorious.

I bought a 30ml bottle when it came out. The sprayer is absolutely terrible but the scent make up for it! Dark and sweet fruits. Very resinous and smooth. It would be a signature scent but it literally takes weeks to come off of my clothes after multiple washings! I’ve worn this to work, family get togethers, running errands, and date nights with my wife. It never lets me down and am complemented wherever I go. I hope he doesn’t discontinue this, it’s one of my all time favs and 100% flies under the fragrance radar! Cheers!